This invention relates generally to the field of musical drums and is more particularly directed to a drumhead and a method for producing the drumhead. The drumhead is specifically adapted to be used in conjunction with hand drums.
Hand drums refer to musical drums that are usually played with the hand instead of with sticks, e.g., conga, bongo, djembe and bata drums. Hand drums have a generally cylindrical drum shell, typically constructed of wood, which has an open top and bottom. Shells for hand drums, such as conga drums, frequently have a shape which is larger around the middle and tapered toward the top and bottom openings. The top opening is usually covered with an animal skin drunhead tightened and tuned to a desired musical tone. Traditionally, such animal skins were tightened over the top of the wooden drum shell by the use of rawhide binding strips, twine or rope, producing a drum and head assembly not easily tuned or modified. While natural skin drumheads produce beautiful musical tones, they are also very sensitive to atmospheric changes such as heat and humidity. Large changes in temperature or humidity can dramatically change the musical tone of a natural skin head and render drums so equipped unplayable.
To address these disadvantages, musical instrument makers have developed synthetic drumheads closely approximating the musical characteristics of traditional skin drumheads. Synthetic drumheads are constructed from sheets of synthetic material joined to a drum hoop and formed to fit over the open top of a drum shell. The drum hoop is sized to pass over the open top end of a drum shell and be drawn toward the bottom of the drum shell by a counterhoop and tensioning mechanisms. Using such an arrangement makes changing drumheads and tuning of hand drums relatively quick and easy.
Manufacturing a synthetic drumhead which duplicates the sound quality of a natural skin drumhead requires the use of relatively thick layers of synthetic material. To construct a hand drumhead, these flat sheets of synthetic material must be formed into a shape having a planar central portion surrounded by a conical portion which terminates in a circular edge. Skin drumheads assume this configuration naturally when stretched over the open end of a drum shell. In contrast, when a flat disc of synthetic material is formed into a drumhead having a conical peripheral portion, a significant amount of excess material is produced which will overlap in folds creating a rough and irregular exterior surface on the conical portion of the drumhead.
It is known in the art to cut the peripheral edge portion of a synthetic drumhead into a series of slots which will allow the excess material to overlap without folding, somewhat alleviating the irregular surface problem. However, the overlapping material produces an uneven surface and the slots cut in the peripheral edge of the drumhead must be covered to produce a professional appearing drumhead.